hey Claire! it was great to see you on your blog as well! keep the updates coming!

Hey Dave! I appreciate your comment and I absolutely agree with you with what you said! It is up to God whether or not people respond. That is the bottom line. However, God does use all people, Christian or not, to accomplish His ends and that is why there can be something to learn from all people.

In no way am I saying that God needs us. But as leaders, we are to lead by example and not merely in talk. As leaders we must have a heart to learn from anything that will teach us something. As leaders we are the ones to view secular thought through the Biblical lens.

I really appreciate your heart for the sovereignty of God and am encouraged!

haven't figured out the details...but encourage them and feed them at least! any ideas?

Hey Paul! I absolutely agree with you! God isn\'t limited by us! My point was not to limit God, but recognize the responsibility of the leader. Too often I hear of people blaming circumstances or the group of people they are trying to lead rather than it was their own pride, their own fears, or their own laziness that was the short coming. It\'s sometimes tricky to take a secular book and apply it to ministry! I appreciate your comment! I love what you\'re doing with OurChurch.com!

how do you like your Storm anyway? any buyers remorse? ;)

yea, that's the challenge here...the capabilities are changing pretty quickly. by the time you determine a strategy and implement it, it's time to refine that strategy! it's like the days of upgrading your computer every 6 months...

yea, I'm with you on resumes, but LinkedIn can be valuable in getting a feel for character. there are plenty of people on LinkedIn that treat it like Facebook friends though!

yea, I feel your sentiment about GC, but Google got plenty of money to throw at it and it looks like they will...so I think it's a matter of time before they position themselves to really impact how it's used

You and I both know that Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect are in its infancy so the level at which it should be implemented is clearly up for debate. One of the values that I see with these platforms is that providing a sense of community through familiarity. One of the major challenges that I've faced is website users to get to a point of comfort before looking to fully utilize the website. I think FC and GFC gives the ability to jump start an experience and gives new users a sense of comfort. This is further enhanced when you "have friends" on sites you go to. Then there is a greater propensity for that person to remember and interact with that site.

That's just one basic element, but I do think that it's the future of the interaction of information. I find myself spending less time on individual sites and more time on Facebook as more and more information (including the greater use of Twitter integration not to mention the new Facebook layout) intersects with it. Google will head in the same direction. I can even see greater integration with GFC and Google Reader, that would be interesting! I'm already finding myself enjoying FC on my iPhone and sharing information faster and having more conversations about that information.

Also, FC and GFC is kinda like the introduction of Twitter where we'll find the value as it's further developed and adopted.

What do you think?

I love your heart with this and I can appreciate the tension you are facing...I encourage you to read through Philippians.